Grayshott Village Archive

An Investigation into the Fate of the Original Outdoor Sign at the Fox & Pelican Public House, Grayshott

Brian Tapp and David Barrett

Summary

The Grayshott Refreshment Association opened the Fox & Pelican public house in Grayshott in 1899. The pub’s sign was designed and painted by Walter Crane R.W.S., R.I. but it became damaged by the weather and was replaced with a copy. The original was given to the Grayshott Parish Council in January 1914 for safe keeping who duly passed it on to the Village Hall. Minutes of the Hall’s Management Committee in 1914 show that the Chairman, Dr. Arnold Lyndon (an art lover) agreed to have the painting restored but thereafter, though Dr. Lyndon remained Chairman of the Committee until his death in 1947 there is no further reference to the painting or its whereabouts. The painting is not to be found in the present Management Committee’s inventory of assets.

So, ‘What happened to Crane’s Fox and Pelican painting? Was it destroyed in the turmoil of the 1st World War or simply lost during that period? If simply lost, where is the painting now? It was not in included in the items publicly sold following the deaths of Dr. Lyndon and his wife. The Royal Academy of Arts has been unable to shed any light on this issue and an article in the Antiques Trade Gazette by Richard Peskett did not yield any useful response. Hopefully someone will come forward with answers to these questions.

Should you have any information on the whereabouts of Crane’s original Fox & Pelican public house sign please send it to the Secretary of the Grayshott Village Archive, David W A Barrett, 20 Rozeldene, Hindhead, Surrey GU26 6TW or by email via the archive web site www.grayshott-archive.org.uk

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In his book, ‘Grayshott’¹ J M Smith (1978) records that Sir Frederick Pollock as Chairman of the Grayshott and District Refreshment Association noted in an earlier book, For My Grandson ‘that the Association had some difficulty in choosing a name for its new Refreshment House. However, it decided upon ‘The Fox and Pelican’. Walter Crane painted us a mighty pretty signboard (long since taken indoors to be preserved as a memorial and replaced by a copy)’.

Smith went on to say that ‘Mrs. Winkworth gave the signboard, designed and painted by Walter Crane R.A.² and the following description of it was printed in the Herald on 7th April 1900. ‘Upon the background which is red upon the upper and green upon the lower portion, there is painted a white pelican with outstretched wings guarding a nest where there are three of its young [from a fox]. The pelican is pecking her own breast, upon which blood is to be seen, the artist having followed the old fable that the pelican was accustomed to feed its young from its own breast. The reverse of the sign board has a red back ground upon which is painted an oak branch with leaves and fruit and a blue and white scroll with name of the inn.’

¹Petersfield Bookshop (1978)
²Miss Elizabeth King, a Research Assistant at the Royal Academy wrote to Village Archive on the 26th February 2009 saying, ‘Walter Crane was not, in fact a member of the Royal Academy although he did exhibit here twice in the nineteenth century. He was a member of both the Royal Water-colour Society (RWS) and the Royal Institute of Water-colour Painters (RI) whose interests are, today served by the Federation of British Artists’.

Details of signboard at the Fox and Pelican inn, and the inn itself taken by Walder circa 1901

On November 5th 2008, David Barrett, Secretary of the Grayshott Village Archive received the following email from his colleague Brian Tapp.

> > I’ve been to the Parish Offices today researching the Clinic etc.> > However, on going through the Minute Books I found an entry dated 20th January 1914 re the F & P sign. This basically stated that the PC had received an approach from the Grayshott Refreshment Assoc. whereby they offered the sign to the PC, following the transfer of the F & P to the London Society, as they considered the sign should become parish property. It was recorded that the gift was accepted and that it should be put up in the Village Hall premises in a position selected by the Management Committee. > >

As Treasurer of the Grayshott Village Hall in the 1990s David Barrett had organised more than one inventory of Hall property and none of these inventories recorded a Crane painting.

After contacting Peter Budd, the Minute Secretary at the Grayshott Village Hall, David Barrett was given access to the Hall Management Committee’s minute book covering the period August 20th 1907 to May 19th 1925. Peter pointed him in the direction of two items in 1914, on (i) pages 95, 97 & 99 and (ii) pages 100 & 101 of the minute book relevant to our investigation.

Item i : pages 95, 97 & 99 from the Grayshott Village Hall minute book 1914

‘A Meeting of the Management Committee of the Grayshott & Hindhead Institute & Village Hall was held in the Technical room at 8.30pm on Tuesday Jan 20th 1914, Dr. Lyndon in the Chair.

Fox & Pelican Signboard
Dr. Lyndon stated that the original Signboard of the Fox & Pelican, painted by Walter Crane, had been presented to the Parish Council and was to be deposited in the Village Hall. Mr. Cornish proposed, J W Petter seconded & it was carried that the Chairman, Mrs. Lyndon and the Hon. Sec. be appointed a Sub-Committee to select a suitable place to hang it.’

Signed ‘Arnold Lyndon Ap 21 1914’

Item ii : pages 100 & 101

Fox & Pelican Signboard
‘A Meeting of the Management Committee of the Grayshott & Hindhead Institute & Village Hall was held in the Technical room at 8.30pm on Tuesday April 21st 1914, Dr. Lyndon in the Chair.

In the minutes of this meeting ‘it was mentioned that the Fox & Pelican signboard was in a very bad state & as the original varnish was sticky it would become worse & worse if hung in the Hall in its present condition & also that Dr. Lyndon had kindly promised to have it cleaned and re-varnished’.

A careful search to the end of the minute book (ending August 14th 1925 when Dr. Lyndon was still Chairman of the Management Committee) by both David Barrett and Brian Tapp discovered no further reference to the Fox & Pelican signboard.

This is very puzzling but we should remember that the whole country was entering very turbulent and difficult times.

Indeed at the very next meeting of the Committee (October 29th 1914) under the heading ‘Billeting at the Village Hall’ the Hon. Secretary recorded

‘This subject was discussed at considerable length & it was decided that the Hon. Sec. Should endeavour to make the best terms he could with the War Office & if necessary call another Meeting. The Hon. Sec. stated that the arrangements he had made in view of the Hall being taken, with Mrs. Bulley & Miss Moir; & what he proposed to do with the goods belonging to the Hall. Mr. Mitchell undertook to see about getting the billiard table taken to pieces & stored.’

Inventories were taken of Hall property in 1922 and 1923 and on each occasion were declared to be ‘satisfactory’.

Our subsequent search of the Village Hall’s Management Committee minute book extending from August 14th 1925 to April 29th 1947 (when Dr. Lyndon died) did not reveal any reference whatsoever to the fate of the Fox and Pelican Sign.

Conclusions

1. Dr. Lyndon removed the signboard from the Hall for renovation during or before April 1914.
2. During July 1914 it became apparent that the War Office would requisition the Village Hall, and all valuable Hall property had to be removed e.g. the billiard table, and placed in store. In these circumstances the signboard would certainly not have been returned to the Hall by Dr. Lyndon, renovated or otherwise.
3. The signboard remained with Dr. Lyndon for the rest of the World War I or had been sent by him to a third party for renovation and restoration. If so, why did Dr. Lyndon fail to report the whereabouts or condition of the signboard to the Village Hall’s Management Committee after the war. Was it simply stored away and forgotten? This seems unlikely, as Dr. Lyndon appears to have been a lover of art. Richard Peskett, a well-known authority on Grayshott Village history tells us that the painting was certainly not listed in the sale of Dr. Lyndon’s effects after his death. Dr. Lyndon’s wife pre-deceased him.

So, following our investigations we are no nearer in answering the questions, ‘What happened to Crane’s Fox and Pelican painting? Was it destroyed in the turmoil of the 1st World War or simply lost during that period? If simply lost, where is the painting now? Who has possession of the painting: certainly not the present Management of the Grayshott Village Hall?’ The Royal Academy of Arts has been unable to shed any light on this issue and an article in the Antiques Trade Gazette by Richard Peskett did not yield any useful response. Hopefully someone will come forward with answers to these questions in due course.

Brian Tapp and David Barrett
Grayshott Village Archive
April 2009

Correspondence to the Grayshott Village Archive should be addressed to the Secretary:

David W A Barrett
20 Rozeldene
Hindhead
Surrey
GU26 6TW

or by email via the web site www.grayshott-archive.org.uk